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You have a friend. You love them, but something is clearly wrong with them. Their feet are deformed. They smell like old yogurt, and possibly they live in a van. No, you’re not friends with a tree gnome. You are friends with a rock climber. Climbing has skyrocketed in popularity since Alex Honnold’s documentary, Free Solo. I have now been climbing for over half my life—far too long to be as bad at it as I am—and the likelihood that you are now friends with one of our demented brother- and sisterhood is higher than ever.
Every climber is fussy about the shoes, harnesses, and ropes they like to use, but here are a few things that might show your weird little buddy that you’ve been thinking about them. If you’re looking for a starting point for yourself, check out our guide for Beginning Climbers. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our gift guides, including our Gifts for Book Lovers, Gifts for Cold People, and Gifts for Bird Lovers.
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To Prevent Neck Cricks
Metolius
Upshot Belay Glasses
If someone is climbing up a wall and tied to a rope, they are “on belay”—there is someone on the ground belaying them, holding the other end of the rope so that if they fall, they don’t hit the ground. That person spends quite a lot of time looking up at someone else’s butt, so you can help them ease that onerous duty with a pair of belay glasses (or belay goggles, or “beloggles” as we extremely cool people used to call them). Prisms are inserted in the frame so that they can look upward without having to crick their neck up. My pair is over 10 years old at this point, and I’m shocked at how much lighter these newer pairs are. Keep the case on your harness with a carabiner and the lanyard for wearing the glasses around your neck between routes.
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A Good Flashlight
Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Olight
Arkfeld Pro Flashlight
I have a real problem with headlamps. They’re so convenient for hands-free whatever, but I never remember to replace the batteries, or have fresh batteries, or recharge them. On the other hand, I always have this Olight Arkfeld Pro flashlight in my hallway cabinet, and it’s always charged for emergencies. I’ve gotten into the habit of grabbing it every time I go on any kind of outdoor adventure, and it has saved my buns (and the rest of me) many times since I bought it. This is for every time your climber friend went out to the crag, was only planning to stay out until 4 pm, and ended up getting held up after dark. Now they’re using their iPhone with 4 percent battery life to navigate up a winding, goat track trail along a cliff face. Welcome back! Glad you made it!
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Crimps With Coffee
When my husband saw this mug in our house, he held it up and said, “I want you to drink three cups of coffee with this every day.” Done and done. Your favorite climber probably already has grip strength trainers sitting by their desk or in the living room in front of the TV so they can flex their banged-up, overlarge hands anytime they want. But do they have a little mug so they can practice their pinches whilst they walk the dog? No, they probably do not! Fun!
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A Fun Little Bag
Every time a climber turns 40 and has a kid, they’re legally required to stop doing alpine ascents and start sewing their own bags. (I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.) Your climber friend already has a serviceable Ikea Frakta or other giant plastic tote that they use for the gym, but it’s kind of fun to have a cute little sling bag with just the essentials. You can throw it over your shoulder and bike to the gym. You can fit a surprising amount of stuff in its 6.8 liters, not just your harness and shoes. There are also air holes with grommets and air fresheners in it so your sweaty climbing shoes don’t get super stank.
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A Good Approach Pack
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Protium 27
Outdoor climbing is not really climbing. It is mainly hiking a lot, while carrying way too much stuff. Any of our Best Day Hiking Backpacks will work for this purpose. Personally, I like Gossamer Gear’s Loris day pack because it’s incredibly light, not too complicated, and comes with a removable seat pad for those incredibly boring few hours when you’re just sitting there while everyone decides what route they want to do, flaking the rope, counting draws, eating 3,000 pistachios, whatever. But reviewer Scott Gilbertson likes Rab’s Protium for its ability to really dial in the fit for carrying a huge amount of gear. It also has an included rain cover for keeping all your stuff dry.
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A Good Solo Card Game
Courtesy of Button Shy Games
On that note, a surprising thing about climbing is just how much of it you spend sitting around, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for someone else to get off your route, waiting for someone else who had the one thing you need to show up. Your climber friend probably already has a Kindle (check out our gift guide for book lovers if you need more ideas), but a card game is light, easy to put in a pocket, and is a nice change of pace. Sprawlopolis is cheap, and the art is beautiful. It has a ton of expansion packs, and most importantly, it can be played solo if you’re a sad third with long-established climbing partners, or if you decided that you just weren’t really into the hike up that day.
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A GoPro for Your Face
OK, so the Oakley Meta Vanguard does not have quite as much resolution as a newer GoPro, or any decent action camera for that matter. But it makes up for that by having multiple functions at once, not least being able to shade your eyes from the sun. These glasses are just so much easier to use than trying to figure out how to mount a GoPro on your chest or helmet. Not only can you call and text people hands-free while you’re flaking your rope, you can also listen to music and ask Meta AI what kind of tree it is that you’ve just fallen into.
The audio is much better than any other smart sports glasses I’ve found, even better than some bone conduction headphones I’ve tried, and I can hear it at up to 25 mph. The 12-MP camera resolution isn’t amazing, but it works perfectly well for texting your friends and posting on social media. It syncs with your Garmin and Strava. And they’re wraparound Oakleys, so you look very sporty.
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The Best Mountain Watch
Your climbing loved one probably already has a Garmin, but in case they don’t, and you don’t want to spend all your savings, you should get them the Coros Apex 4. This is the watch that famed alpinist and skyrunner Kilian Jornet used on his recent States of Elevation project, where he biked between 14ers in three separate Western states and ascended each on foot.
The Apex 4 has surprisingly premium materials for a not-outrageous price, like a titanium bezel and a sapphire glass screen. The battery life is insane—I’ve had it on for almost two weeks, and it’s still at 55 percent. There are a bunch of navigational features, onboard topographic and landscape maps, and features for mountain sports, like automatic route detection for rock climbing.
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The Best Book on Climbing Style
Isola Press
Mountain Style: British Outdoor Clothing 1953-2000
Your climber buddy already has a copy of Conditioning for Climbers and The Rock Warrior’s Way. Now it’s time for something fun, with big pictures that won’t require them to lift weights. If you’re interested in outdoor wear at all, this book is fascinating. It catalogs the movement from natural fibers to high-tech fabrics like Gore-Tex. It charts the modern-day gorpcore movement and how rugged outdoor brands became more widely available and even stylish, featuring plenty of funny advertisements, modern-day studio shots, and contemporaneous photography. This is for everyone whose grandpa regularly shows them up by showing up to ski in Scotchgarded jeans.
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The Best Climbing Pants
Photograph: Gramicci
Gramicci Pant
Speaking of modern-day climbing style, people everywhere can and do climb in everything from jeans to pajama pants to your basic black leggings. But Gramicci pants are the best pants, and you can wear them anywhere. They’re 100 percent durable cotton, which I prefer since I avoid synthetic fabrics, and cotton will protect you from scraping yourself on rough surfaces. The easy fit and adjustable, integrated waistband give you plenty of room for movement, and they just look better the more you beat them up. I have three pairs myself and will probably get more.
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A Pair of Approach Shoes
Your climbing friend has very specific climbing shoes, depending on whether they like trad or sport or bouldering, indoor, outdoor, or what specific brands worked for their own effed up little feet. You know what? Let’s not even get into it. What’s slightly safer is to buy a pair of approach shoes, which are hiking shoes that borrow features from climbing shoes for the technical approach to a climb. They generally have less cushioning so you can feel the ground, and a sticky sole and rubber rand for scrambling up weird surfaces.
Trail runners or hiking boots also serve this purpose, but I love an approach shoe because it’s so versatile. I wear approach shoes because the relative lack of cushioning and the protective rubber rand work for all different sports (especially climbing as well, obviously). You never know when you might have to switch from technical hiking to skateboarding to mountain biking in one weekend! This particular pair also has a nice stomp-down heel, so it works as a crag and a camping shoe.
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A New Rope
Courtesy of Sterling
Sterling Aero Rope
This is for me. I really want a new rope. Mine is gross, washing it is hard, and it dates back to a time in my life when I thought I needed a big, thick rope to prevent me from dying when I fall. Now I think I’m ready for a thin, light rope that won’t weigh 3,000 pounds when I’m clipping in. Also, I no longer fear death. This is the rope that Olympic athlete Jesse Grupper has, and it’s been treated with a process that makes it easier to slide through your belay devices. Sterling, the company that makes it, also has a recycling program for dead ropes. I think I should get it. What do you think?
